In the small village of San Bartolome de Pinares in Spain, a large crowd gathers every year for the annual Las Luminarias festival. They are there to watch horses run through a great fire.
Several hundred years ago, all the horses died in a small village in Spain. Since then, it has been tradition to “purify” the horses by letting them run through the fire.
– For us, the festival is more than a party, it’s a feeling, says Tania Martin.
For Ulrika Backan, at Hästnäringen’s National Foundation, the tradition arouses anger and outrage.
– You get angry, this is completely inappropriate handling of horses, she says.
More about the festival in the player above.